Needham ad agency goes Oscar wild

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2008 at 10:25 PM

New England Business Center ad agency creates its own Oscar buzz.

Debra Filcman

As inches of fluffy, white snow fell last Friday — and folks across the region ducked out of work early — ViewPoint Creative’s staffers buzzed around their New England Business Center digs, busy as worker bees.

The entertainment advertising agency’s general manager, Dave Shilale, and two of his colleagues, sat behind laptop computers in the conference room, staring down Excel spreadsheets.

“We’re judging on resourcefulness, creativeness and ‘handmade-ness’,” Shilale said in a professional voice, despite the gold muscle suit and face-paint he wore.

Shilale, whose face would grace the company’s own thrift-store version of the Oscar trophy, dressed the part Feb. 22, as he helped judge the company’s costume and talent Academy Award competition.

But it was Needham resident Mark Koehne, a veteran of Hollywood, who spearheaded — and participated in — the staff competition. Entrants had to fill out an application and pay a $5 fee.

“I love movies myself, and I’m so into the pageantry of it,” Koehne said.

As he and Shilale kicked off the festivities, employees continued to run amok through the aisles of their sleek office space, in full Hollywood garb. More backstage at the high school musical than professional office, ViewPoint Creative employees dispensed with political correctness and let their inner children go wild.

“The reason why it took him so long is because he was doing sit-ups,” one employee screamed out when colleague Yuhei Ogawa — as shirtless Spartan Boy #2 from “300” — began his 30-second snippet to “help sell the character.”

“Does homemade count with abs,” he joked in return.
Ogawa wasn’t the only one quick with the jokes.

But ultimately, Matt Naboshek, who transformed himself into a bee, a la Jerry Seinfeld’s “Bee Movie,” with stuffed, old rugs to create the bee’s backside, took the $100 office prize and Oscar trophy.

“He was up all night,” said Koehne, whose girlfriend spent all morning working on his own hairdo, transforming him into real-life Oscar winner Javier Bardem’s character from “No Country for Old Men.” “When I walked in this morning, he was asleep in my office.”

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